Dear Parents, Pupils, Guardians and Friends of the school,

As Christmas quickly approaches, please see our school newsletter below for an update on some of the happenings in our school.

Christmas activities in the school
We have lots of different activities and events on the run up to Christmas over the next two weeks. The teachers and the girls have been busy preparing and are looking forward to spreading some festive cheer. You can see some of the activities below and we might even have a couple of surprises for the girls before we finish up for the holidays!!

Junior Infants Christmas Play
Miss Hall’s Junior Infants will perform their Christmas play this week for the parents and for the school. The Junior Infant parents will have received a message to inform them that their daughter’s play is taking place on Thursday, December 12th and other details including times etc.

Little Sisters of the Poor – Annual Christmas Visit
All of the girls will visit the Little Sisters of the Poor on Friday, December 13th where they will perform their Christmas Carol Service for the residents and staff there. It is something that the girls love doing and are, as ever looking for to their annual visit!

Carol Service in the Church – December 17th @ 1.00pm
Our Annual Christmas Carol Service will take place in the Church at a slightly earlier starting time of 1pm on December 17th. All parents are welcome to attend and we are really looking forward to seeing you all there. The girls have been practicing over the last number of weeks and always put on a great show. We will send a message on Aladdin to parents regarding the Carol Service this week with more details.

Christmas Carols with the Good Counsel Choir
Our newly formed Good Counsel Choir and Miss Hutchinson will be visiting some of the local nursing homes to sing Christmas Carols for the residents. The girls have been practicing every Wednesday during lunch time and are looking forward to their first outings with the school choir. Thanks to Miss Hutchinson for her work in putting the choir together and for preparing the girls.

Wear your Christmas Jumper/Outfit to school – December 19th

The girls are welcome to wear Christmas Jumpers/Christmas outfits coming to school on Thursday, December 19th. Please ensure that your daughter is warm enough in her outfit as the weather has gotten quite cold over the last few weeks.

School Closes for Christmas – Friday, December 20th
Half Day – Friday December 20th
Junior and Senior Infants – finish @ 12.10pm
1st to 6th class – finish @ 12.15pm.

Christmas Displays
We have some lovely Christmas displays on show in the school this year. Thank you to Tracey our secretary, Mark our caretaker and Ms. Kelly for putting it all together.

We held our Christmas Crib Design competition last week. The girls are asked to design a background for the school crib with the winning selection being used as the crib background. We received many excellent entries and the winner was Mia in 6th! You can see Mia’s final product below. Well done to all of the girls for the effort they put into their designs.

Christmas Food Hamper Appeal
Mrs. Shanahan’s Wellbeing Warriors have been putting their minds together to see if we can help people in need in Waterford this Christmas. They have decided to run a Christmas Food Hamper Appeal where the girls are encouraged to bring food into the school which will be donated to a local worthy cause. They have also put a poster together which you can see below as to the types of food that can be donated. If you can and would like to make a food donation to the school please send it in by Wednesday, December 18th.
Thank you to the Wellbeing Warriors and Mrs. Shanahan for all of their hard work in putting the appeal together!

Late Late Toy Show
We all watched the Toy Show with great anticipation over the weekend as three girls from the school were selected to be on this years show. Well done to Sophie, Dorka and Lilly from 6th class who were dancing on the Toy Show as part of the Synergy Dance group. The girls have been practicing hard over the last few weeks and months and all of their hard work paid off! Well done from all here in Good Counsel!

You can see the dance here – Late Late Toy Show – Pop Princess Medley

Parents’ Association Fundraiser
The Parents’ Association bingo night takes place in the Forum tonight, Tuesday December 10th with doors opening at 7pm. Thank you to the Parents’ Association for organising the fundraiser and the prizes for the raffle on the night. Thank you also to the parents for their generosity and support as ever. We look forward to seeing some of you on the night!

Drop off and collect area
Our drop off and collect area has been a big success so far and we are delighted with how it is going. Getting in and out of school in the morning and at home time has gotten so much easier and more importantly, safer for everyone. Please note that when you are parking your car, there is no need to leave big gaps between cars as we are trying to fit as many cars in as safely as possible in the set down areas especially at home time and on wet days. Thank you.

Important Dates
Friday December 20th – Half Day
Junior and Senior Infants – 12.10pm
1st to 6th class – 12.15pm.
Return to school
Monday January 6th @ 9am.

We looking forward to seeing many of you over the next week or so.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas from all here in Our Lady of Good Counsel.

Yours sincerely,

J.Nagle
Principal